About The IGF

IndieGames.com is presented by the UBM TechWeb Game Network, which runs the Independent Games Festival & Summit every year at Game Developers Conference. The company (producer of the Game Developers Conference series, Gamasutra.com and Game Developer magazine) established the Independent Games Festival in 1998 to encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers.

This week on "Best Of Indie Games," we take a look at some of the top independent PC Flash/downloadable titles released over this last week.

The goodies in this edition include a collection of classic Snake game variations, a new DigiPen student project, a space exploration game rendered using only ASCII characters, plus a monster-feeding puzzler for iOS and Android devices.

Here's some recent highlights from IndieGames.com:

Game Pick: 'Spin Spin Episode I' (Chris Hughes, browser)
"Chris Hughes' Spin Spin Episode I feels like a short, fun mix of VVVVVV and And Yet It Moves. Players move left or right, or rotate in either direction, to reach checkpoints and ultimately get the girl."

Game Pick: 'Snakes On A Cartesian Plane' (netgrind, browser)
"With over 28 variations on the classic Snake theme, a happily retro-esque aesthetic and some wonderfully outlandish game design ideas Snakes On A Cartesian Plane is definitely worth your time."

Game Pick: 'NiteLite' (Grant Wynn, Corey Kay, and Steven Peng, freeware)
"In NiteLite, players wave their hands to light up the surrounding terrain and defeat incoming enemies using a variety of weapons. Though the game is playable with a keyboard and mouse setup, its developers recommend Kinect for maximum enjoyment."

Game Pick: 'ASCII Sector' (Laserbrain Studios, freeware)
"ASCII Sector is a space exploration game in the vein of Elite and Privateer, and thus a game allowing you to trade, quest, explore and fight your way to intergalactic prominence. Impressively it does all this by only using ASCII characters for its graphics."

Game Pick: 'Ichi' (Stolen Couch Games, commercial indie)
"In Ichi, players use rotating triangles, barriers, and other environmental objects to guide a moving line and collect coins throughout each level. The game includes over 50 puzzles, and a level-creation tool lets players create and share their own custom stages with others online."

Game Pick: 'Monsters Ate My Condo' (PikPok, commercial indie)
"Monsters Ate My Condo challenges players to match colored floors and feed high-rise buildings to hungry monsters in the included Endless and Time Attack modes. It also stars a gigantic unicorn, just so you know."

Game Pick: 'A Grain Of Truth' (Marek and Marcin Rudowski, browser)
"A Grain Of Truth is the continuation of the story first begun in Bell's Heart, a charming tale centered around the adventures of the story-bartering Myosotis. As you make your way through the Endless Plains in search of the Wiseman, you'll encounter a host of strange creatures and stranger puzzles."